Get a "dream wall" of fitness goals

I was reading a book by a fitness instructor that I actually met once when she was traveling through Chicago. She was a trainer at Flywheel and even though she was based out of New York City she was visiting the Windy City and was a guest trainer for a few days. There was also a book signing and a pep talk in addition to the spin classes, which by the way were awesome.

In the talk she encouraged all of us to get a "dream wall" near where we spend a lot of our day at home. For most people this would probably be near their computers, I know that it is for me but I also work remotely from home.

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So what is a dream wall? It is a small area where you put the things that you want to achieve in life. Since she is a fitness trainer she was referring primarily to things related to fitness but also to career goals and even relationship ones. Obviously it is kind of important that you don't put things that are completely impossible like you want to date Taylor Swift or something like that but instead to focus on things that you actually can do, such as lose weight, get some visible abs, or get bigger arms or more ripped shoulders.

I'm not going to show you my wall but it is a collection of pictures of arms i want to have, things i want to learn, and places I want to visit. It might surprise you how much this constant reminder motivates me to both excel in the gym as well as in my professional life.

Normally this sort of hippie-dippie crap annoys me but at the advisement of Holly Rilinger, I did it anyway and I still shake my head in a sort of "well, you got me there!" sort of way when I think about how I thought it was a stupid idea and I'll be damned it worked. Any time I am feeling not motivated to work out I just look up at my dream wall and realize that I am not going to get those arms if i sit here and watch Netflix. I am not going to learn Spanish if i don't fire up Duolingo. I am not going to learn about localcoinswap if i keep scrolling through stupid Youtube videos.

It really does make a difference and what a fantastic piece of advice from this trainer that I had never heard of but she is a minor celebrity in the fitness world.

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The really amazing thing about Holly, and I will do a full article about her in the future, is that she isn't 22. She's in her 40's just like me. It is actually a bit annoying when a spin class trainer who is 23 years old is up there screaming at me to work harder when the only thing i can think of is "well of course you look great, you are 23! Come see me in 20 years and let's see how you are doing then."

Holly suggested the dreamwall and I use it to this day. The stickers and pictures change on a regular basis but it really is amazing how much easier it is to stay motivated when you have this constant reminder that there are things you could be doing to benefit yourself..... and watching Netflix or chowing down on some more Fritos probably isn't one of them.

_{I lost over 50 lbs and kept if off by making small, manageable changes to my life and believe that others can do the same. There are no shortcuts, you gotta put in the work}